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Housing design

Improving housing design and quality

The Mayor is improving the quality of both new and existing homes in London through investment programmes and development of land holdings.

The Mayor’s Housing Strategy sets out his vision and proposals to provide all Londoners with a good quality home they can afford. Its aim is that every Londoner can access a well-designed, safe, good quality home that meets their needs and is genuinely affordable.

The Mayor has put the twin goals of affordability and quality at the centre of the new £4bn Affordable Homes Programme 2021-2026 (AHP). It includes 20 new funding requirements focusing on design, sustainability, and building safety, alongside a renewed emphasis on Modern Methods of Construction.

In addition, the Mayor has committed to trialling the use of the Delivering Quality Homes Action Plan and Post Occupancy Evaluation through two pilot initiatives

Delivering Quality Homes programme

The Delivering Quality Homes initiative aims to support housing providers to review and improve the internal processes and practices that lead to good quality housing by making available two complementary resources:

  • The Delivering Quality Homes Action Plan tool prompts organisations to assess their current performance across 50 criteria organised into four key themes: Culture and People, Procurement, Brief and Standards and Stewardship, and set out activities for improvement. This tool is made available on request by emailing [email protected]
  • The Delivering Quality Homes Handbook provides a description and priority level for each of the actions, as well as examples of good practice, inspiring quotes and photographs of exemplar schemes.

The GLA has recently completed a pilot of the Delivering Quality Homes initiative with four Investment Partners (IPS) selected through a competitive EOI process: LB Hounslow, Habinteg, Poplar Harca and Hyde. Following the successful completion of the pilot, the GLA looks forward to expanding this initiative across the wider AHP 21-26. Further information will be shared with partners in due course. See reference to Delivering Quality Homes in Section 2 of the GLA Capital Funding Guide and the AHP 21-26 Funding Agreements.

Delivering Quality Homes is part of the Mayor’s Good Growth by Design Programme, which aims to improve the design quality and inclusivity of buildings and neighbourhoods for all Londoners. 

Post occupancy evaluation

By evaluating homes – their performance and the residents’ perspectives – we can assess the extent to which affordable homes delivered are well designed and fit for purpose. We can also gather data which can inform policy making moving forward.

Whilst many partners are delivering high quality homes, there is still an opportunity to close the feedback loop and learn more from the completed schemes. The objective is ultimately to drive up the quality of homes in terms of building and environmental performance as well as improving the quality of life for Londoners.

The GLA has completed a pilot of the Post Occupancy Evaluation initiative with four Investment Partners to develop a consistent set of Post Occupancy Evaluation tools. The four pilot partners were: Paragon Asra, YMCA London City and North, London Borough of Southwark and Peabody. Following the successful completion of the pilot, the GLA looks forward to expanding this initiative across the wider AHP 21-26. Further information will be shared with partners in due course. See reference to Post Occupancy Evaluation in Section 2 of the GLA Capital Funding Guide and the AHP 21-26 Funding Agreements. 

The outcome of the pilot has been captured in a Process Note produced in collaboration with the GLA Regeneration & Growth Strategies Team. It captures the requirements and aspirations of the Post Occupancy Evaluation project.

Please also visit the information sheet for further detail.

Housing design standards

Affordable Homes programme 2021-26

The design and sustainability standards for the Affordable Homes Programme 2021-2026 are set out within the information pages for that programme.

Affordable Homes programme 2016-21

The Mayor’s Homes for Londoners: Affordable Homes Programme 2016-21 (AHP 2016-21) introduced a number of changes to the way that affordable housing projects are assessed, funded and monitored.

The funding guidance requires projects funded through this programme to meet the housing design and sustainability standards set out in the London Plan and relevant Supplementary Planning Guidance (and, in particular, the Housing SPG, published in March 2016).

The funding guidance states that, in the exceptional circumstances where an AHP 2016-21 project has a planning permission which does not fully comply with the London Plan design standards, providers will need to specify areas of non-compliance.

In the spirit of streamlining the administration of this programme, non-compliance is captured at practical completion stage only (and not at start on site). At that stage, providers need to answer questions in the GLA-OPS online system to tell us which (if any) of those standards the scheme fails to meet and how many homes are affected (this is a contractual requirement).

The tables below specify the design standards where non-compliance will be recorded throughout the 2016-21 affordable homes programme. We expect compliance with the remaining standards in the London Plan and the Affordable Housing SPG, but these particular standards have been selected on the basis that the London Plan’s requirements differ from national building regulations and are not fully captured by the design standards in the National Planning Policy Framework.

For standards in the list below which providers have confirmed as met in the OPS completion screens, we will expect providers to maintain records which provide satisfactory evidence for compliance auditors.

1

There is at least one long stay cycle storage space per studio or one bedroom flat and there are at least two long stay cycle spaces per dwelling for all other dwellings

2

There are at least two short stay cycle parking spaces, plus an additional space per 40 units for projects which have more than 40 units.

3

Dwellings that are north facing OR have three or more bedrooms are dual aspect.

4

For all dwellings - direct sunlight will enter at least one habitable room for part of the day.

5

The development is at least ‘air quality neutral’ and will not lead to further deterioration of existing poor air quality (such as areas designated as Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs)).

6

The development meets the following minimum targets for carbon dioxide emissions reduction. Improvement against 2013 Building Regulations:

• Scheme completing in 2014 – 2016: 35 per cent

• Scheme completing in 2016 – 2036: zero carbon

7

The maximum water use is designed to be 110 litres per person per day.

8

Storage facilities for waste and recycling containers meet local authority requirements AND meet at least British Standard BS5906:2005 Code of Practice for Waste Management in Buildings.

9

All units meet or exceed the Mayor's space standards for gross internal area

(Details in table 3.3 in Chapter 3 of the London Plan:/programmes-strategies/planning/london-plan/current-london-plan/london-plan-chapter-3/policy-35-quality-and)

10

90% of units meet Building Regulation requirement M4(2) ‘accessible and adaptable dwellings’ & the remaining 10% meet Building Regulation requirement M4(3) ‘wheelchair user dwellings’.

11

There is at least 5 sq. m. of private outdoor space for each 1-2 person dwelling AND there is an extra 1 sq. m. for each additional occupant.

12

The minimum depth and width for all balconies and other private external spaces is 1500 mm.

13

For each dwelling: floor to ceiling height is at least 2.5 metres for at least 75 per cent of the gross internal area.

14

Where an access core serves four or more dwellings, an access control system with entry phones in all dwellings is linked to a main front door with electronic lock release

15

If :

• EITHER the scheme has more than 25 dwellings served by one core

• OR the potential occupancy of the dwellings served by one core exceeds 100 bed spaces

• OR there are more than eight dwellings provided per floor



…is one of the following provided?



1. a 24-hour concierge OR

2. An access control system featuring audio-visual verification

16

At least two lifts serve all dwellings entered at the seventh floor (eighth storey) and above

17

For schemes with a focus on provision for older people

The project adheres to the HAPPI guidelines

18

For other schemes

The project adheres to the design standards set out in your approved bid

Legacy programmes

In 2010 the Mayor published the interim London Housing Design Guide, establishing a common set of housing design standards across all tenures in London. The London Funding Standards Framework applied to the Mayor’s affordable housing investment programmes for 2011-15 and 2015-18. This was implemented through the submission of the London Design Pro-forma EXCEL at specified stages in the development of funded schemes.

Recognising housing design quality

The Mayor wants to recognise and celebrate the best housing design in London. That’s why he supports the Housing Design Awards, which recognised numerous new housing schemes in London as being amongst the best in the country.

Housing design quality in London is also recognised at the Mayor’s Planning Awards and through the Good Growth by Design initiative.

Design Standards 2015-18 Pro-Forma

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